May 12, 2019

Jn 10: 27-30

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Easter joy can’t be snatched away

Today’s Gospel reading is a much-needed note of consolation in a dark time. What with Notre Dame Cathedral a charred wreck, Sri Lanka the site of a coordinated suicide bomb strike, and even the release of the Mueller Report, this has been a hectic, troubled Easter season. Perhaps we should remember that even the first Holy Week was also a troubled time of hurried farewells (the Last Supper on Holy Thursday); injustice, denials, and betrayal unto death (Good Friday); and mourning for the end of an era (Holy Saturday).

But then came Easter Sunday, and it changed everything: not a farewell meal but the inauguration of the Eucharist; not a bitter death but a man saying “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”; not the end of an era, but a new morning for us all.

And so we remember in this Easter season that our Lord knows us by name, and desires eternal life for us; and that if we but follow Him, all that can never be snatched away. Not all the ruined cathedrals, terrorist attacks, and political dramas in the world can take that from us.

Prayer

Lord,We ask you to help us to worship you with gladness and singing, even in the dark times of our lives.Help us to remember that you made us, so that we are your people.Help us give thanks and praise to you, blessing your goodnes and your steadfast love and your eternal faithfulness to all generations.Amen.

—Greg Ostdiek, SJ

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May 12, 2019

Jn 10: 27-30

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Easter joy can’t be snatched away

Today’s Gospel reading is a much-needed note of consolation in a dark time. What with Notre Dame Cathedral a charred wreck, Sri Lanka the site of a coordinated suicide bomb strike, and even the release of the Mueller Report, this has been a hectic, troubled Easter season. Perhaps we should remember that even the first Holy Week was also a troubled time of hurried farewells (the Last Supper on Holy Thursday); injustice, denials, and betrayal unto death (Good Friday); and mourning for the end of an era (Holy Saturday).

But then came Easter Sunday, and it changed everything: not a farewell meal but the inauguration of the Eucharist; not a bitter death but a man saying “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”; not the end of an era, but a new morning for us all.

And so we remember in this Easter season that our Lord knows us by name, and desires eternal life for us; and that if we but follow Him, all that can never be snatched away. Not all the ruined cathedrals, terrorist attacks, and political dramas in the world can take that from us.

Prayer

Lord,We ask you to help us to worship you with gladness and singing, even in the dark times of our lives.Help us to remember that you made us, so that we are your people.Help us give thanks and praise to you, blessing your goodnes and your steadfast love and your eternal faithfulness to all generations.Amen.